New Indiana coach relies on familiar blueprint to help Hoosiers recreate a winning formula in 2024

Published Aug. 21, 2024 1:47 p.m. ET

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Curt Cignetti's blueprint for winning seems to travel with him wherever he lands.

Assistant coaches tend to follow him from one stop to the next. Some of his top players do, too. And everyone sees how the old-school disciplinarian refuses to bend the rules when it comes to intangibles — or his desire to win.

So when the 63-year-old son of a Hall of Fame coach accepted the Indiana job, hopeful fans immediately began contemplating how Cignetti could extend his 13-year streak of winning seasons as a head coach and 17 straight overall — despite taking over a team picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten.

Cignetti has an answer for that.

“I'm not going to tolerate not being successful, I want to make that clear right off the bat,” he said. “And it's a new day and age in college football where it's portable. You can change your team just like that and, fortunately, I was given the resources to do that.”

Cignetti certainly has created a different buzz around Bloomington with his bold style.

At Big Ten's media days, Cignetti may have caught some off-guard when he said he's more accustomed to being the conference favorite. He also wasted no time explaining one of his two teams he had picked to finish next-to-last in the league finished as the conference runner-up. The other won the championship.

So the fact nobody's giving the Hoosiers a chance now has only fueled them.

“Everyone walks around with some swagger and some confidence,” starting offensive lineman Mike Katic said. “That just bridges off what he does, how he conducts himself in meetings in front of the team, he does a really good job of leading us by example.”

Now everyone will see if Cignetti created yet another quick fix.

Transfer portal

While some teams rely on the portal to enhance their teams or fill holes, Cignetti used it to completely overhaul Indiana's program. He has 31 players who came via the portal, including 13 who followed Cignetti from his previous stop at James Madison.

“I knew when we came in and I started interviewing the old players we needed a lot of new faces,” Cignetti said. “And, fortunately, they did me a favor by leaving.”

Quarterback carousel

The Hoosiers used eight starters and nine different quarterbacks over the last three years, but they may now have found some stability with Kurtis Rourke, the 2022 Mid-American Conference player of the year, who left Ohio for Indiana.

While nobody has been named the starter yet, Rourke appears to have the inside track after some pro scouting services had him ranked among the top 10 NFL quarterback prospects entering last season.

“He's consistent and knows how to play quarterback,” Cignetti said last week.

The schedule

Indiana has an unusually manageable early-season schedule on paper — FIU, Western Illinois, at UCLA, Charlotte, Maryland and at Northwestern. Successfully navigating the first half will be essential for any bowl hopes with a trip to No. 2 Ohio State in November and late-season home games against last year's two playoff finalists — No. 9 Michigan and Washington.

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